What Happens When I Find a Home I Like?
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You have found the perfect home! Now it is time to prepare a water-tight offer that wins you the property.
Prepare and negotiate an offer
Rest assured, your REALTOR® ally will support you during the whole process. We know which buttons to push and how best to maximise your chances of securing the sale while protecting your interests. Common points of negotiation that we address might include;
Closing date and costs
Contingency finance
Warranties
Leaseback to the seller
Repairs for any damage or required updates
Furniture can be included in any deal
Appliances
Inspections
Building assessments
An offer can include conditions that protect either the buyer or seller. An offer without conditions is known as a firm or subject-free offer, these are a little more straightforward to deal with. The seller may accept your initial offer, reject your offer or present a counteroffer. The counter-offer may differ from your original offer in respect to price, conditions, closing date, or any other terms.
Offers can be countered back and forth between the parties until one of you accepts or rejects, ending the negotiations. This is where we excel - in our 45 years of real estate we have seen it all and are experts in closing these deals out for our clients.
Remove subjects/conditions of purchase
Before a transaction can be finalised, the subjects (if included) will need to be removed from the offer. To remove the subjects, their conditions need to be met.
After an offer is made, a set period of time will be given to meet these conditions. This is the “subject removal period” and is typically given as seven days in BC. That means if your offer is approved on a Wednesday, you’ll have until the following Wednesday to remove the subjects.
How much work you need to get done in this time will obviously depend on how many subjects you’ve included in your offer.
For example, if you’ve included Subject to Financing and Subject to Inspection, you must secure the necessary financing and arrange for a professional inspection and report within the seven-day period.
Prepare for closing
The closing process is another part of the purchase that involves a few important steps. For your benefit, we’ve listed the key things out here.
Retain the services of a lawyer or notary
As soon as you have an accepted Contract of Purchase and Sale and have removed all subjects, it is important to hire a lawyer or notary. They will be required to handle some of the crucial steps in transferring the title over to you.
Confirm title to the property
Your lawyer or notary will need to gather information from you including how you wish to hold title to the property, especially if you are buying with your spouse, a partner, family member, or a colleague. It is important to understand the different types of title and how they affect you.
Secure additional information
The lawyer or notary will complete a title search and obtain all additional information that is required to complete the Statement of Adjustments. If you are registering a mortgage, your lawyer or notary will need to obtain an insurance binder with “loss payable” to your lender.
Lawyer or Notary prepares closing documents
Yes, more documents! Your lawyer or notary will prepare the final few documents required to close out the deal. These include things such as the title transfer, mortgage, property transfer tax forms and Statement of Adjustments. They will send the seller’s closing documents to their lawyer or notary for completion.
Sign documents and transfer funds
Here’s where we hand over the cheque. Typically one to three days before we can close, you will meet with your lawyer or notary to sign the final documents and transfer funds for the purchase of the property. This is ideally handled via certified check, bank draft, or a secure inter-bank transfer.
Register your mortgage
Your lawyer or notary will register the transfer and mortgage documents, arrange for the seller’s lawyer or notary to pick up funds, and notify you that the purchase has been completed.
Possession date, the keys are yours!
Typically you will receive the keys from your REALTOR® - handing over keys to a buyer is one of the most joyous parts of our job. We’ll do this on the possession date agreed in the Contract of Purchase and Sale.
Load the truck and move in!
It is time to embark on the next chapter of your journey. Preparing to move into a home can be daunting, luckily we’re on hand to support you in this process too. Snoop around our website to find our top tips for moving in.
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